Digital based electronic media formats are finally on the cusp of largely replacing analog electronic media formats. Digital compact discs (CDs) replaced analog vinyl records long ago. Analog magnetic cassette tapes are becoming increasingly rare. Second and third generation digital audio systems such as Mini-discs and MP3 (MPEG Audio—layer 3) are now taking market share from the first generation digital audio format of compact discs.
The video media has been slower to move to digital storage and transmission formats than audio. This has been largely due to the massive amounts of digital information required to accurately represent video in digital form. The massive amounts of digital information needed to accurately represent video require very high-capacity digital storage systems and high-bandwidth transmission systems.
However, video is now rapidly moving to digital storage and transmission formats. Faster computer processors, high-density storage systems, and new efficient compression and encoding algorithms have finally made digital video practical at consumer price points. The DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a digital video system, has been one of the fastest selling consumer electronic products in years. DVDs have been rapidly supplanting Video-Cassette Recorders (VCRs) as the pre-recorded video playback system of choice due their high video quality, very high audio quality, convenience, and extra features. The antiquated analog NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) video transmission system is now being replaced with the digital ATSC (Advanced Television Standards Committee) video transmission system.
Computer systems have been using various different digital video encoding formats for a number of years. Among the best digital video compression and encoding systems used by computer systems have been the digital video systems backed by the Motion Pictures Expert Group commonly known by the acronym MPEG. The three most well known and highly used digital video formats from MPEG are known simply as MPEG-1, MPEG-2, and MPEG-4. Video CDs and consumer-grade digital video editing systems use the early MPEG-1 format. Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs) and the Dish Network brand Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS) television broadcast system use the MPEG-2 digital video compression and encoding system. The MPEG-4 encoding system is rapidly being adapted by the latest computer based digital video encoders and associated digital video players.